


The Twins Connected by Strands of Hair

by MyGoldenEyes



Series: I Saw Seven Birds [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Major Spoilers, Not Happy, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, The Twins - Freeform, its just about the twins, no ships, or barry, sorry - Freeform, you will hurt if you love the twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:15:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyGoldenEyes/pseuds/MyGoldenEyes
Summary: Based on a tumblr post about the twins having a spell that connects their hair so if one of them dyes it a color the others will be that color.





	The Twins Connected by Strands of Hair

Taako knew that something was wrong. Lup had been missing for a week. This planet was one of the worst they had ever encountered. The air was heavy and heard to breathe though not polluted. So far they had only encountered two living things. The small easily frightened dwarf-like creatures that hid in caves or lived in treetop villages and the Raptors.

Taako and Magnus had been so excited when they hear the villagers refer to “raptors” that wandered in the forests and valleys. Unfortunately, the creatures were neither velociraptors nor gigantic birds of prey. They were instead large mouths on legs. They looked like misshapen blobs situated on muscled legs that opened horizontally to reveal six rows of terrifying teeth. Merle had referred to them as Pan’s mistake while Magnus stated that he wanted to spend this year on ship duty.

up had disappeared a month into the trip. She had gone off after a fight with Taako. Lup told Taako that he was too selfish and that he never cared about anyone but himself. Taako had returned the insult and added that she would never be able to love anyone the way she loved herself. It was a dark day at camp. Barry had tried to go after her but Davenport held her back. Merle, Lucretia, and Magnus had all been with the ship, out searching for the light. They didn’t even know Lup had gone off on her own until they all reunited at the end of the year.

A day passed and then another. Barry worried, as he always did. But Taako reassured him that Lup would be back soon, “She’s just waiting to make a dramatic entrance. I wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up on the last day magic missiles blazing to save us last minute.” But Taako was afraid. When it came to Lup, Taako was always afraid.

It wasn’t until two months later that Taako knew for sure he wouldn’t see Lup until the next cycle. He woke up one morning and went to braid his hair. The ends of it were dyed red, blood red. Taako quickly snapped his fingers and his hair returned to the blue color he had been maintaining since Lup left. He took a deep breath and pushed everything down. It was fine. It wasn’t like he practically told Lup she would never find true love and then left her to die. It would all be fine.

Barry got excited when he saw Taako and Taako honestly couldn’t figure out why.

“Your hair! It’s a different color! You two have that...that spell thing that connects your hair colors! And yours is a different shade of blue, did Lup change it?” Taako looked at Barry’s excited expression and considered his response.

“No, she’s dead.”

Sure enough at the end of the cycle Lup recounted hos she had died a two months after she ran off.

“You should have seen me Taako. I was like Bear Grylls out in the wild. I was surviving off the land.” Taako laughed at his sister’s false bravado.

“Does that mean you drank your own piss?” Lup laughed heartily and looked a little less stressed than she had been since she got back.

But she woke up that night screaming. Taako walked across the shared room to her bed and pulled her into a hug. She whispered nonsense phrases until one became clear. She looked up at Taako with tearful eyes, “I was all alone.” Something snapped in place in Taako.

“You won’t be ever again.” He got to work that night. Inspired by the red that had signaled Lup’s death, he created a color palette that they could use to communicate with their hair.

Red- Danger

Blue- lost

Orange- north

Pink- west

Green- west

Burgundy- south

Blonde- I’m going to die

Grey- don’t come for me

White- I found the light

The first time they used it Taako had gone off with Magnus and Merle and found the light. He dyed his hair burgundy to signify that they had gone south then dyed a strip white to show that they had found the light. It was a good method. It made it easier for them to find each other.

Still, there were the heartbreaking days. The day Taako was stuck in a mine when he heard it start to collapse. He snapped his fingers to dye his hair blonde and grey before he was crushed. Lup had slapped his side and mocked him, saying “I told you not to go explore weird holes.” But that night Lup slept in his bed with him and held him close.

Then came the spectral forms. Lup had gone with a beautiful turquoise before the ceremony. Even after she returned to her body neither of them could dye their hair. Barry reasoned that it was due to the connection being blocked by Lup being kind of but not really dead.

“Well as long as you make sure never to color your hair grey right before you die we’re gonna be peachy.” Lup smiled at Taako and lifted a pinky which Taako took.

“Promise.”

When Lup disappeared the only hope Taako hade was that note and the ever-changing colors of his hair. Every day he woke to a new color was a day he knew she was ok. Then it turned to blonde, and it wouldn’t change. He walked out that morning and Barry greeted him as always. Coffee in hand and map on the table before him.

“Oh! Morning Taako, what’s blonde mean?” Barry didn’t have a complete list of the colors. The twins had decided that some things were best left between just the two of them. Taako considered the day that he first told Barry that Lup was dead. Barry had fallen apart. They hadn’t made it out of that cycle. Barry had sat resolutely in the cave they had camped out in and waited for the hunger to devour them. And Taako had waited with him.

“Nothing, just a base color. No meaning here.” Barry nodded, not taking his eyes off the map. He pointed to a few places on the map and talked about his suspicions that Lup could be there. Taako tried to ignore the guilt in his chest as he lied to the man that loved Lup almost as much as he did.

***

Taako watched Barry fall from the ship, but he couldn’t recognize him. He knew he should know him but he just didn’t. That wasn’t his only issue. There was a much larger hole forming in his mind, his soul. All he could do was clutch at his blonde hair as the world turned to static.

***

“Really Sazed! It won’t take any color! I’ve tried every dye and spell but it just stays like this. I must be cursed!” Taako threw his hands in the air as he moved about the kitchen. But as he spoke he knew he was missing something. Some empty face smiling at him beneath blonde bangs.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my Tumblr: Autisticauthorgabs   
> It's where I wrote the headcannon that inspired this pain fest.


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